by KAITLIN KONS
Gov. Tony Evers, in his State of the State address, announced a new commission for creating a nonpartisan map of Wisconsin, infamously regarded as the most gerrymandered state.
To brief those unfamiliar with this concept, gerrymandering is the practice of separating the state into districts strategically so as to fabricate an electoral outcome, regardless of the intention of the voters. This is done by bounding voters of a certain party in a few districts then creating many more districts that have scattered and minimal support of that party. This gives the party in control a high number of narrower victories and the victim party a low number of overwhelming victories.
Coined in 1812, gerrymandering got its name after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry drew districts that disadvantaged the Federalist Party, the rival party of the Democratic-Republicans, the party to which he belonged, with one district that famously looked like a salamander.